rose geranium lemonade

I’ve been visiting the San Francisco Farmers’ Market in the Ferry Building most Saturdays. It is pretty close to where I am staying, and is just a really lovely place to potter round. It also helps that most of the produce stalls are giving out free samples, and you can pretty much eat your body weight in peaches.

Last time I was there I found a herb stall selling bunches of rose geranium. I had never actually come across this before, and incase you haven’t either let me tell you that it smells di-vine. You can definitely pick out the distinctive rosy scent, but it is less flowery and much fresher than a pure rose smell. The lady running the stall suggested that I add it to lemonade, and that’s exactly what I did. It adds a delicious and fragrant little something to classic lemonade, and my only regret is that I didn’t have some ice cold gin to add to the glass.

Scroll down for the recipe.

To make six servings, you will need:
– handful of rose geranium leaves
– half a cup of sugar
– four lemons
– water
– edible flowers for garnish

To make the rose geranium syrup, put the sugar in a saucepan and add half a cup of water and heat. Once the sugar starts to dissolve throw in the rose geranium leaves and keep on a medium heat. The leaves will go brown pretty quickly, that’s ok! Once the sugar is completely dissolved, put a lid on the pan and leave to cool thoroughly. When it has cooled completely strain out the leaves and keep the syrup in a jar in the fridge. It should last for a couple of weeks.

Squeeze the juice out of all of the lemons and into a small jug. To assemble the drink, pop a few ice cubes in a glass and fill two thirds of the way with water (you could use still or fizzy). Top up with the freshly squeezed lemon juice, and add a few spoons of syrup to taste. Oh and if you feel like making these more fun, leave a bit of space for the gin.